Of the many formlines and narratives that have piqued interest in this year’s Caulfield Cup, a Richmond angle is one that no doubt captures the excitement of thousands of Victorians and more across the country.
The Chris Waller-trained Soulcombe heads into the 2400-metre affair as one of the favourites. After a brilliant run in The Turnbull a fortnight ago, every indication is the five-year-old gelding is primed for what would be his biggest win in Australia.
Such is the weight of expectation however, it’s made some of the AFL’s most famous faces as nervous as they’ve been.
Soulcombe is part-owned by five Richmond players, as well as former forward Jack Riewoldt.
Tom Lynch, Nathan Broad, Jayden Short, Jack Graham and Liam Baker are all involved in the prized import who has had seven runs in Australia since debuting down under last November.
Broad, who had returned to Perth for the AFL off-season, will perform a fly-in and fly-out mission across the country to get track side for the famous race.
“I’m getting butterflies just thinking about it and I don’t get nervous for any games of footy or anything like that… but I’m getting nervous for this,” he told SEN WA Breakfast on Thursday.
“It’s another way of getting that feeling. I love my horse racing.”
For a player who’s scaled the AFL’s highest mountain on three occasions, it’s an indication of just how much it means to be involved.
The Tigers syndicate was brought in by John O’Neill, a Richmond supporter and one of Australia’s most famous owners.
O’Neill and fellow owner Ozzie Kheir now race “seven or eight” horses with the Tigers across the country and Broad couldn’t be more grateful.
“Those two have been so generous to us Richmond boys, welcomed us into their syndicate and it’s been an amazing journey so far,” he said.
“I’m very excited for Saturday.”
Broad will be at Caulfield on Saturday. He’s expected to be joined by Short, Lynch and Riewoldt, all of who were up before sunrise on Tuesday to watch Soulcombe gallop around the Caulfield track.
But two will be missing. Graham and Baker are currently travelling around the United States.
“They’re back for the Cox Plate,” Broad confirmed.
“They were on the phone to Johnny a couple of weeks ago, ‘Run it in the Cox, run it in the Cox’!
“They wanted to be trackside. But it’s exciting, they’ll be watching it from Vegas I think. They could blow all their winnings in one night if (Soulcombe) gets up.”
The Caulfield Cup jumps at 5:15pm AEDT. You can get all the experts’ best bets for the day here.